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Yet Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2634 | TRs | Pics Location: Happily Ever After |
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Yet
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:33 pm
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Fuller Mountain, 032708
First, a very special welcome to the first-time TNAB’ers! Glad to have been there for your cherry popping.
Eric (ewb)
Mike (Dayhike Mike)
Patti (rdyhiker)
Troy (you must be mountainsun, yes?)
Congrats to now TNAB vets!
Andrea (wamtngal) & Todd (Just Todd)
Peggy & Cubbie
And the rest of the crew:
Chris (Magnum)
Don (Malachai Constant)
Joseph (GQ Joe Hiker)
Steve (yukon222)
Steve N (The Phantom Hiker)
Tisha & Jeremy (Schmidt Altitude) & the Whippets
Yet & Mesahchie Mark (Mine Truly)
The journey is half the fun, and mine started at 3 pm to pick up my son from school, then a stop at the bakery for some pre-hike cupcakes, and finally to home base (Mark’s house), where we headed together to the Eastgate Parking lot. Woohoo! Just like old times.
What’s it like driving with Mark to the meeting place?
Ring, ring!
“This is Mark! … You didn’t print the directions, did you? … Heh … Take a left at the North Bend Bar & Grill … You’ll see a pink duck … Quack twice, and you’re there.”
The man’s work is never done.
The Eastgate Parking Lot is a memorable place, don’t you know? Serving many functions on different occasions. On this day, Mark and I met up with Patti, Don, Andrea & Todd, and Troy. At 10 past 5 pm, we were off to the trailhead!
Nine more unstoppable TNAB’ers would eventually end up at the TH at varying times. Making it a total of 16 hikers and 3 canines. Yukon Steve was determined to be an early bird this Thursday; he missed the group by a few minutes last week. The other Steve (Phantom) was in rare form tonight. We actually saw him.
The happy and excited bunch blasted up the trail a few minutes past 6 pm. This hike was a TNAB first last year. Off the North Fork Snoqualmie, through roads, old growth forests, and a cute little log bridge, you will find the actual “trail,” which is primitive at best. Weather turned out to be beautiful this spring evening. No rain!
And up the little hill we went. The trail, while short and sweet, is no cakewalk. The first half gives one the illusion that the heart rate will be fine, just fine. But just like a roller coaster, it picks up quickly, taking you through narrow paths and forcing you to navigate over rocks. Lots of rocks. Which, when not covered in moss, were frosted over with slush and/or mud. And finally, snow on top. Wow!
Everyone congregated at the “fake” summit for Tisha’s group shots … minus Joseph, who was enjoying some solitude further up.
After the requisite paparazzi stop, we went on to find the famous view of Mt Si’s backside. Talk about “junk in the trunk!”
Didn’t stay there very long. It was cold, as manifested by my frozen hands. As an aside, just to attest that the kind of folks who show up at these hikes are first rate: When I commented that my hands were cold, I got not one, but two offers of warm and dry gloves for my use. Aww! I did however have spare gloves in my pack, which Mark put on for me because he really likes my hands and he would be sad if I lost them.
Soon, we started heading back. Didn’t have to wait long for twilight – which - while beautiful, made for a tricky hike back. Nighttime followed shortly, headlamps came out, as I cursed every slippery step over the slushy, mossy, muddy rocks. Ah, TNAB. I’ve come home!
The group once again congregated at the trailhead while they waited for the last of the stragglers. Oh wait, that’s me.
At 8:34 pm, everyone was off the mountain.
And here comes my favorite part.
Once off the trail, Mark and I turn off our headlamps, join hands, look up at the sky and smile at the stars.
What more can a girl want?
Food.
Fourteen of us stormed the North Bend Bar & Grill. Good times, indeed.
NBBG group 1 label Dayhike Mike, GQJoe, 'Babe, and 'Dude Mark, Yet, and Yukon at NBBG
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Just Todd Trowel Owl
Joined: 15 Jan 2008 Posts: 226 | TRs | Pics Location: here. |
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Just Todd
Trowel Owl
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:41 pm
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Good thinking Yet! Way to call "dibs" on this slot.
The trip was fun, despite the stumbles and bottle searching on the way down. The view of Si's backside was beautiful and unexpected!
The real TR and pics will be great, no doubt.
Sunset is an all day process.
Sunset is an all day process.
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rdyhiker Member
Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 567 | TRs | Pics
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rdyhiker
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:52 pm
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wamtngal Member
Joined: 13 Jun 2004 Posts: 2382 | TRs | Pics Location: somewhere |
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wamtngal
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:52 pm
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Just Todd wrote: | The view of Si's backside was beautiful and unexpected! |
Humph! Why do I feel a tad jealous of a mountain? Is it because she has a glacier and I don't? Put up yer dukes Miss Si!
Opinions expressed here are my own.
Opinions expressed here are my own.
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Schmidt Alti-Babe The Ice Queen
Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 606 | TRs | Pics Location: Buried by backlogged pictures |
Todd's description of a backside makes me laugh. I like it!
Just Todd wrote: | beautiful and unexpected! |
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Dayhike Mike Bad MFKer
Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 10958 | TRs | Pics Location: Going to Tukwila |
rdyhiker: You got it. Copy and paste is the best answer for moving the post.
Click on Quote on your post, so you get all the link information for the various pics, and then repost over here (removing the quote tags, of course).
Admins can do it for you, but it's just easier for you to pull it across manually.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
Fuller fuller 003 fuller 004 fuller 005
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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rdyhiker Member
Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 567 | TRs | Pics
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rdyhiker
Member
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:33 pm
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Dayhike Mike wrote: | rdyhiker: You got it. Copy and paste is the best answer for moving the post.
Click on Quote on your post, so you get all the link information for the various pics, and then repost over here (removing the quote tags, of course). . |
Thanks for the instruction DHM! Comments and pics moved over from the Partners TNAB thread:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My first nwhikers event - a great time! What a fun, easy-going group of dedicated hikers. Fuller was a pleasant surprise - short and sweet, but rough and rugged enough to make it interesting. And the snow cover made everything beautiful, if a little slick underfoot at times.
Also good to put faces - as well as real names - to some of these avatars. Thanks Mark and Yet and all! See ya next Thursday night.
Three things I learned last night:
- Jump right in first-timers, the water here at nwhikers is fine
- Even a mere 900 ft. of elevation gain puts my legs in revolt if they run 3 miles a couple hours earlier
- Onion rings should be consumed more than 2 hours prior to bedtime if easy sleep is desired
A few pics:
Summit circle Evening glow Spring evening on Fuller Dayhike Mike arrives First view of the valley and Teneriffe Peaks Clearcuts at their best Heading out
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ree Member
Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 4399 | TRs | Pics
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ree
Member
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:12 pm
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I love the picture of Dayhike Mike wearing shorts!
That looks like a pretty nice hike... close to town and you can make a half day of it or less.
Good for a quickie.
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Dayhike Mike Bad MFKer
Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 10958 | TRs | Pics Location: Going to Tukwila |
<grin>
Also of note, I had only one (1) of the ten essentials (headlamp) and was wearing two (2) cotton garments at the time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm *such* a rebel.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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wamtngal Member
Joined: 13 Jun 2004 Posts: 2382 | TRs | Pics Location: somewhere |
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wamtngal
Member
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:49 pm
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Such a Q-Tip.
Opinions expressed here are my own.
Opinions expressed here are my own.
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Dayhike Mike Bad MFKer
Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 10958 | TRs | Pics Location: Going to Tukwila |
Dayhike Mike wrote: | one (1) of the ten essentials (headlamp) |
Just realized that even though I had it, it never even came out of my pack. ("Headlamps are aid!" )
Is it reeeeeally "essential" if you didn't actually need it?
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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gone Member
Joined: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 1051 | TRs | Pics
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gone
Member
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Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:12 pm
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[Moved from this thread.]
As another first time TNAB hiker, I second rdyhiker's comments: Great group of folks, very friendly, lots of laughs! Thanks so much for letting me tag along!
I didn't mention it to anyone last night, but this was my first experience hiking a trail in the dark-dark. I've wandered a ways into the dark on overnights to water the plants, and I've done many dusk-dark bottoms on Tiger, Si, and Rattlesnake, but those trails are wide and well established and the highway sounds make getting turned around nearly impossible. But here it was very dark and very quiet, and at times the trail was nearly indistinguishable from the forest floor in the dim light of my headlamp. It was an anxiety provoking experience, particularly as I found myself making a couple of bad turns (which I thankfully recognized and corrected quickly), and had I been there alone I might well have freaked out. But I knew that Mark and Yet were somewhere behind me and I was confident that there were at least a couple of TNAB'ers out on the road ahead of me, and this gave me to confidence to keep moving. Popping out onto the road at the end to cheers and hoots was a real spirit lifter!
I've been wanting to get up Fuller for awhile now, having ridden near it so many times on my bike, but I wasn't sure I could figure it out myself from just trail reports and hike descriptions. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do it with an experienced group. I'm learning that I belong squarely in that group of folks who follow in the snow- and trail-breaking footsteps of others, and I'm very thankful to have opportunities like this one to follow such confident and capable hikers. And, lest anyone think the "AB" in TNAB is just a joke, it's not - this group books! I tried mightily to keep up for the first mile or so, finally giving up and settling into a less heart-pounding, knee-bending pace. I thought perhaps I had a kindred wheezer in Dayhike Mike, who I caught a couple of times, but it turns out he was just getting warmed up - once he got his groove on, he was gone just like everyone else.
The trail itself was beautiful, in a tree farm-ish kind of way. Lots of different forest ages, moss, ferns, and some creeks (one, Ten Creek, with a really cool, though very slippery, log crossing - in the dark!). Based on trail reports I knew there was rock to traverse on the west side, but didn't expect so much. It was a jumbled maze in places and quite slippery in others. I struggled a bit through this in an effort to avoid twisting one of my too-fragile ankles, particularly in the near-dark on the return. Harvey Manning's 1984 edition of Foot Sore 2 describes the trail this way:
Quote: | "Don't expect a boulevard. The Green River College students who built the trail in 1975 as a classroom exercise engineered the route beautifully for purposes of defense against intruding wheels left the tread with many small obstacles of roots and rocks." |
And in the subsequent 30 years, nature has taken over where the students left off, adding many more roots and rocks. The trail is thin throughout and in places has a pretty aggressive slope (for my knees anyway). With a thin covering of snow, things got very exciting at times for me!
I only grabbed a few pics with my point-and-shoot.
"Engage afterburners!" The weather cleared as we left, providing sunshine up the entire west side. Typical lower trail, rocks, moss, ferns, and more rocks. Amazing wide views from the south east side of Fuller.
Now I'm off to REI to get a second, much brighter light.
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Schmidt Altitude Whippet Entourage
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 803 | TRs | Pics Location: The Quah |
This was our first TNAB of the season and it sure was good to see everyone again, plus some fresh faces! At first DHM thought we were insane to drive to the distance, but he soon realized for himself how much fun these things can be (especially when Tisha throws herself at him to get his chocolate turtles ). Newbies: you missed out on initiation this time, but beware the spanking machine next time!
Single file, please. Keeping up with the pack The agonizing last push to the summit! Viewbagging Klaus Lake Fern frolick Um, what are we doing now? Do they know we didn't bring brownies? And there's the Si Glacier....
And a pano courtesy Alti-Dude:
The rest of our pics are up on our flickr page here.
"Forest 101: These big wood stick things are called trees. The big rocks are called mountains, and the little rocks are their babies." Elliott from Open Season
"Forest 101: These big wood stick things are called trees. The big rocks are called mountains, and the little rocks are their babies." Elliott from Open Season
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Dayhike Mike Bad MFKer
Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 10958 | TRs | Pics Location: Going to Tukwila |
Hey, whatever happened to the photo of GQHiker we were gunna photoshop in later?
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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